It is well-known Rangers are painfully short on centre-backs, and especially fit ones, and are even shorter on left-sided ones at that.

Currently the roster includes Connor Goldson, Leon Balogun, John Souttar and Ben Davies, with just one lefty in there unless we include the inexperienced Johnly Yfeko and out-of-favour and probably just not good enough Leon King.

It’s a bit thin, especially given the injury issues that affect all four of those main choices, and the absolute reality that Ben Davies falls short of the level required for this club.

As such, could one useful free agent be former Montpellier defender Mamadou Sakho, once worth around £25M and a former France international? And yes, he’s a lefty.

Now we’re well aware of certain ‘indiscretions’ the big defender has had in the past, with some kind of training ground incident ending his time in France, and was sent home from a pre-season tour with Liverpool many years ago on discipline grounds as well, but if we’re looking for a high-quality and experienced defender with a CV of the best order, Sakho could be a useful gamble.

Rated as superb with passing and great in the air and on the deck, Sakho is a fine defender who is certainly not past his best, and his past quality with PSG persuaded Liverpool to spend big on him.

128 Premier League appearances, 196 in Ligue 1 and 4 World Cup appearances to his credit show this is a marquee defender who is certainly of the quality required.

Whether Philippe Clement would be interested based on his chequered past and personality we’re not as sure, but he may remember him from his own time in France when he faced Montpellier in a 3-2 away loss with Sakho part of the winning side.

His current value is a modest £2M but he’s presently on the lookout for his next club.

He’s a free agent, and might be worth the gamble – he also, crucially, has no major injury history to speak of and while he has had spells out, he’s had none for two years so that’s a plus.

Could Clement be interested? Maybe…